 |
| Chocolate sculptures in Brugge Chocolate Museum |
The Friet museum and Chocolate museum in Brugge are definitely worth a visit. I was expecting a bit of touristy fun but the chocolate museum was in fact really interesting. Who knew there was so much paraphernalia to go with chocolate? My kitchen it seems, is lacking in chocolate frothing equipment.
I was grateful that I'd had a steaming hot chocolate with breakfast because after learning all about how cocoa came to claim it's place in the world, I was gasping for a drop of the sweet stuff. Did you know that it was the Spanish that added sugar to hot chocolate? Prior to that it was a bitter drink flavoured with spices. Chocolate in a solid form didn't come about until much more recently with the rise of the chocolateier.
When we bought our Chocolate Museum tickets we were given a thick disc of dark chocolate, the museum is spread over four floors and ended in a demonstration kitchen where we watched how to make pralines before being given another sample to try on the way out.
 |
| Hot chocolate frothers known as molinolli |
At just €11 for a combi ticket to the two museums we filled a pleasant morning, finishing up with Belgian fries in the basement cafe of the Friet Museum. The Friet Museum is a shrine to the potato and our beloved chips. The debate continues as to whether it was the Belgians or the Spanish who invented chips, the Belgian museum acknowledges this and celebrates all glorious chips. While a little less detailed than the Chocolate Museum the Friet Museum has a quirky collection of old cooking memorabilia and plenty of advice on cooking perfect fries.
Both museums are multi lingual with information and signage in Flemish, French and German as well as English. Our hotel had discount fliers for both museums, it's worth keeping an eye out for these as we saved a couple of euros on top of the combination ticket price.
 |
| A cone of crisp chips from the friet museum |
I collected recipes from both museums and will be trying out some favourite sauces to pair with chips. Which sauce do you like with chips? Personally, I don't think you can beat chips with mayonnaise and the generous portion that they served in the Friet Museum cafe meant there was plenty of mayo for even the chips at the bottom of the cone, perfect. I hate it when there isn't enough sauce to go around.